


blossoming alone over you

by mugsandpugs



Category: Fruits Basket
Genre: Angst and Porn, Cunnilingus, F/F, Femslash, Hurt/Comfort, Mental Health Issues, One Shot, Past Child Abuse, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Porn with Feelings, Post-Coital Cuddling, Scars, Vaginal Fingering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-02-26 10:16:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18715000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mugsandpugs/pseuds/mugsandpugs
Summary: The first time Rin kissed Tohru, it was an accident.The second time Tohru kissed Rin, it was not.





	blossoming alone over you

**Author's Note:**

> This is a slight canon-divergent AU where Haru and Rin never got back together, though they're still friends.
> 
> Rin is my favorite Furuba character. I'm a total multishipper (I'll ship anything if it's interesting enough), but the thought of her with Tohru is really sweet to me. Mostly I just ship Rin with stability, love, and care.
> 
> Title from [this song,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-B5yr2zyY0) because Mitski makes me even gayer than I already was.

Rin wasn’t the most expressive of people, but she enjoyed hearing Tohru speak.

Maybe she wouldn’t look directly at the girl while she talked — that would be too much like looking into the sun — but she’d watch Tohru from the reflection of a water glass, or observe her shadow on the wall behind her. Her animated hands; her laugh; the way Rin could _hear_ the audible smile in her voice… 

Tohru hadn't touched her since that night on Gure-ni’s porch, with the fireflies humming, Shigure’s guest robe too big for Rin’s body slipping off her back and down her shoulders. Tohru was a small girl, but she’d held onto Rin with all her might like she was trying to personally keep the shaking timbers of her body together by the strength of her stick-thin arms alone.

Rin vowed never to use Tohru like that again. Tohru was being made to carry the weight of the broken Sohma family, as well as her own grief, all on her own. Isuzu’s heart was always heavy as a mountain, but she refused to make Tohru carry it along with every other weight of the world. If nobody else, including Tohru herself, could see that the girl was only human, that she was no angel, well, then Rin would just have to keep an eye on things _for_ her.

So she’d never break on top of Tohru again. She would be steady and strong, sailing under her own power, whenever the girl was around to see her. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t still enjoy the natural warmth she exuded just by being present. Tohru couldn't help being warm, and Isuzu, like a blossom, couldn‘t help but drink in her sunlight whenever she was around to shine.

And maybe it was _because_ Rin was so hyper-attuned to Tohru’s mood, to the state of her heart, that she noticed a tiny hitch in her voice. Maybe someone who was paying less attention would have missed it entirely.

“What was that." Rin said, more a command than a question, like always. She couldn’t help it. She had brillo pads in her soul and barbed wire in her voice. 

And, like always, Tohru saw completely through Rin’s tough-as-nails facade to the gross, squishy, bleeding things inside. “Oh! I was just saying, Kyo-kun has been… Distant, lately.”

He was neglecting her? That bastard. She‘d show _him._ How could he leave someone as precious and dear as Tohru on her own? How could someone have been living with her for as long as he had, and not pick up on the fact that she was head over heels for him? If he didn't shape up, someone else would come and sweep her away.

… The thought made Rin feel unbearably moody. Sad, mostly, but angry, too. Imagining Tohru with someone else… Nobody else would take good enough care of her heart. Nobody would understand that Tohru was a person, with weaknesses and flaws. A person who needed to be cherished. A person who needed love…

“Isuzu-san?”

Tohru was looking at Rin with her full concern, and damn, meeting those brown eyes really, truly  _was_ like looking directly into the sun, and anyone who thought she was exaggerating could shove it. It dazzled Rin until her own eyes stung and felt watery. Oh, hell, hell, she‘d gone and worried the girl again when she’d promised _not_ to— 

"Are you alright?"

Tohru was closer now. She was becoming one of the small party of people (that party before containing only Haru) who could come close without setting off Rin's noisy alarm bells. Hell, she could probably touch Rin while she was sleeping, even, without waking her up.

The thought was a little scary, but it was a little comforting, too.

They'd been visiting in Kazuma's guest room, with a small tea service between them. Rin was trying to re-train herself to eat in front of other people. Her therapist had suggested it might help. Mostly, it just made her anxious. But tea with Tohru wasn't so bad.

Rin watched as Tohru scooted the tea service aside to approach, reaching for Rin’s arm and then hesitating, dropping her hands to the table instead. The sight of her hands, callused from work, her nails bitten short, always reaching but never taking, did something to Rin's heart.

“Isuzu-san?” Tohru said again, her voice a soft, gentle creature like all the rest of her.

Rin closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It didn’t help, really. Tohru smelled of flour and cinnamon from the baking she’d no doubt been doing just before coming to see Rin.

“You can touch me," Rin said through gritted teeth. “I’m sorry I ever made you feel like you couldn‘t.”

There was a long pause. Rin wondered if she could kick herself for speaking, or just hide under the table until Tohru took pity on her and left. But neither of those things happened. Instead, Rin felt both of Tohru's little hands take hers.

“Okay, Isuzu-san," Tohru whispered, and rubbed her thumb over the back of Rin's hand.

When Rin opened her eyes again, she saw not the sun, but a girl she loved.

_Loved._

Oh. Was that what this feeling was? Funny. She’d only ever experienced similar things with Haru, yet the two emotions were so different they could hardly be placed in the same category. She loved Tohru. She also loved Haru; just as much, but differently. No wonder she’d struggled to recognize it. 

Rin hesitantly touched her fingertips to Tohru's cheek. It was so soft in her hand. Up close, she could see the tiny freckles on Tohru's skin, reminding her of a dappled sunflower. Sweet girl. Beautiful Tohru. Without really thinking about it, Rin leaned in and touched her lips gently to Tohru’s; the barest brush of a kiss, hardly enough to feel anything at all. Then she pulled back.

Tohru stared at Rin for a long moment before color bloomed in her expressive face, warming her cheeks an attractive rose hue. “Isuzu-san…”

Rin said nothing; only swallowed hard and continued to meet Tohru’s eyes. Perhaps she was challenging her. Perhaps she was waiting for the inevitable rejection that would follow. Why would Tohru want someone as broken as her? Rin was such a greedy, hollow, wanting thing; taking first and asking later...

Instead, Tohru leaned forward and, after a moment to gather her nerve, she gave Rin a small kiss of her own. This one lingered a moment; long enough to feel the softness of Tohru’s lips, to feel the warmth of her skin. Rin felt a little dizzy. She was used to dizziness, but this wasn‘t the dizziness of not eating, or of pushing her body to the point of exhaustion. This was something else.

Lightly, she brought a hand to the back of Tohru's head, feeling the bumps of the intricate braids Tohru had woven that morning. She cradled Tohru’s head in her hands as she kissed the other girl, tilting her head and sliding their lips together until Tohru sighed and scooted forward, almost losing her balance on her clumsy feet.

They broke apart, met eyes, and Tohru gave a nervous giggle that almost — _almost —_ made Rin smile.

“Is this okay?” Rin asked. Haru had always been so careful to ask what was and wasn‘t okay when they were intimate together. “We can stop.”

Tohru’s blush darkened, but she didn‘t look away. She was such an earnest girl. “I like it," she said, and the simple words made Rin’s heart skip a beat. "Can I kiss you again, Isuzu-san? I’ve never kissed anybody before."

Rin pulled back to look at Tohru’s face. She supposed it didn't surprise her, really, but it made her feel a bit protective. Like she had to make absolutely sure this was what Tohru wanted, and not yet another thing Tohru felt she _had_ to do just to please someone else. Much as Rin hated to talk about mushy things like feelings, her inner Haru told her it was necessary in this one circumstance.

“I like you,” Rin told her, blunt and forward as ever. “I wouldn't be doing this if I didn’t. You don‘t have to go along with this just for my sake.”

Tohru considered for a long moment. Rin tried not to stare at the way she pulled her lower lip into her mouth, nibbling it as she thought. She tried not to be so _very_ aware of how close Tohru was still, crouched before Rin‘s chair in a position that was probably not all that comfortable.

“I like Isuzu-san,” she said finally. “It makes me so happy that you like me, too.”

She _did_ look happy, all glowing and sparkling. Rin wanted to make Tohru glow like that all the time. Nothing should ever snuff that light out.

“I liked the way the kisses felt," she said finally, and this time she averted her gaze a smidgen; out of shyness, not deceit. 

Finally, Rin could relax. With a small smile growing on her face, she brought a knuckle to Tohru‘s chin and turned her face back towards her, then reached for Tohru's hands.

“Come here, then," she said, and tugged. On wobbly legs, Tohru stood, and then burned red as ever as Rin pulled Tohru onto her lap.

Funny, though, how it was Tohru who took the next move. Who rested her hands on Rin‘s shoulders and kissed her cheek, then her jaw, before finding her mouth again. Funny how Tohru made herself comfortable on Rin‘s lap. In a way, it made sense. Tohru was far more comfortable being close to people than Rin had ever been. Of course Tohru would know better how two people might fit together.

Rin, who had grown up behind walls and rules and curses, who had known love only in secret, had never been so open. She could only hold onto Tohru‘s waist and try not to get lost in overwhelming sensation.

Tohru‘s hands stroked Rin‘s hair — her short hair; would she ever get used to it? — with care, and Rin sighed pleasantly. Tohru‘s hands on her hair felt nice. She kept waiting for the moment of panic, for the awareness that another person was on top of her, to set in, but so far it had not.

Tohru knew there was more to the loss of Rin's hair than just a desire for a change, but she‘d never asked for the full story. Maybe, someday, Rin would be ready to tell someone. That day was not today. It was hard for a sign of abuse to be so visibly present on her body but, like the scars on her back, it was just something she‘d have to get used to, day by day. _I survived that. I’m still here._

Tohru was a survivor, too. Tohru was so brave. Tohru was _strong —_

“Isuzu-san?”

Rin blinked. Wetness streamed down her cheeks. Was... Was she...

"Oh, no," she muttered, realizing too late that she was crying on Tohru after all. "Oh... Tohru, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I promsie I'm not sad." Well, no more sad than usual, anyway. "Don't go thinking you did something wrong or anything weird like that. This is all me."

Tohru hummed, gathering the sleeve of her dress over her palm, and used it to dab the tears off Rin's cheeks. "It's okay. I understand."

Did she?

Rin wrapped her arms tighter around Tohru's waist, so tightly that the girl finally stopped her attempts at cleaning Rin up and simply leaned forward, accepting the hug for what it was.

"Can I show you something?" Rin asked, and was pleased when her voice only sounded a little strained. "I'd have to take my shirt off, so. I just don't want you thinking I'm making a move without getting the okay, or whatever."

To her surprise — and secret delight — Tohru  _giggled,_ a hand raising to cover her mouth. Her eyes did that thing where they crinkled around the edges, and it made Rin's heart do a swoopy little dive in her chest. Damn, damn, she had it bad, as Haru would say.

"I've seen you undressed before, Isuzu-san," Tohru reminded her, only blushing a little, and Rin gave her a playful nudge, making a deliberate effort not to do it too hard. Having spent most of her life posessed by the spirit of an ancient, celestial horse, sometimes Rin forgot how strong she was compared to normal people.

"Yes or no question, Honda." Man, her therapist would be one happy camper when she met with him next week. She was eating in front of other people, allowing them to touch her, and now even making jokes with them? Maybe the antidepressants  _were_ working. 

Tohru reached to tuck a strand of hair behind Rin's ear, still seated comfortably on her lap as though it had been made for her. "Yes," she said warmly; sincerely. She even helped Rin undo some of the many buckles and straps it took to slide her top off over her head, though the realization that Tohru was helping to undress her made  _Rin_ feel a little warm in the face.

She hadn't worn a bra, as they were uncomfortable and showed through the asymetrical holes on her clothing, so she found herself topless before Tohru Honda, and not for the first time in her life, either. Now that she had permission to look, Tohru did. Rin found that although she was constantly snapping at men on the street that  _her eyes were up here, thanks perv,_ she didn't mind the gaze when it came from this girl. She wondered what Tohru was thinking, and wished she didn't have so many scars from her hospital visits scattered here and there across her torso.

Haru had assured her that she was perfect in his eyes, but what about anyone else's eyes? She and Haru had made better friends than lovers, but nobody but him had ever made her feel lovable before. This was... This was scary.

_It's Tohru. She's not going to hurt you._

Rin held onto that thought as she met Tohru's eyes and turned to the side, showing Tohru a glimpse of the heavy scarring that fractured her back like broken pottery. Most of her injuries sustained from her fall out the window were superficial; especially since she'd gotten medical treatment right away. But oh, how the rocks she'd landed on had shredded the skin of her back like nothing else. Stitches or no, she still looked like a bad patch job.

If Tohru could accept the ugliest parts of her, then maybe...

No. She was not testing Tohru. To do so would be to discredit, dishonor the girl that had proven herself trustworthy time and time again. This was not a test, and this was not a game. "Akito did this to me," Rin said bluntly, as she tried to say all things.

Tohru didn't say anything.

"I pretend like I'm above it all, like I don't care what anyone thinks, but it actually makes me feel like shit when I hear people say stuff. I'm showing you because I... I don't want you to be surprised. And because I know I don't tell you enough, but some things are hard to talk about. But I know you're all grown up, and I know you can handle it. So just... That's it."

She felt a bit foolish for making such a production out of it. She wondered if she was in for one of Tohru's speeches about the importance of self love and acceptance. Instead, she only leaned forward again until they were embracing; until her head was on Rin's shoulder. She hugged rin tight, and Rin returned the hug, feeling the warm bundle on her lap against her bare skin.

"May I kiss you again?" Tohru asked, and Rin nodded.

...

They didn't "fall" into bed together; nothing so abrupt as all that. Rin tugged, and Tohru followed, and they sat side by side, kissing until their lips went numb, and even after they began to ache. Tohru tasted sweet as can be, no matter how many times Rin returned to detect any sour notes.

She expected Tohru to balk at the hands on her cotton shirt's buttons; ten yellow things covered in soft fabric, but she didn't; merely squared her little shoulders so the fabric lay more flat; more easy to handle. For some reason, Rin felt her face warm at that, especially after glancing at Tohru and seeing her kindness burning at Rin and Rin alone.

Rin, much as it made her squirm, enjoyed having Tohru's soft eyes only on her. She made quick work of the buttons of Tohru's blouse and pulled the whole thing off her shoulders. Where once she might have been tempted to fling it aside, here she only draped it over the iron footboard of the bed, where it wouldn't wrinkle. 

Tohru wore a plain white bra underneath; also cotton. Soft-cupped; old and worn looking, and just a little too small. The straps bit into her shoulders. Of course; Tohru was the type to wear clothes for years and years and years, repairing rips and stains as best she could until all fell apart.   
  
In some ways, Rin knew she herself was spoiled. She gained and discarded clothing with little thought to their cost or value. Of all the problems in her life, money had never been one of them. Tohru's careful ways had an appeal to them; like to her, even the life of a shirt meant something. It was more honest, more pure, than the Sohma way of life.

Rin gently cupped Tohru's breasts in her hands, glancing at the girl's face as she did to make sure that this was okay; that Tohru wasn't just going along with her to make her happy. She wanted Tohru to know beyond any shadow of a doubt that it was okay to ask for this to stop. That Rin might be mean and crass and a jerk and a bully, but she'd never, ever tell  _anyone_ they couldn't say no.

Tohru's brown eyes looked far from a "no," however. They'd grown darker as her pupils expanded. Her mouth, too, looked more inviting. Damp and kiss-swollen as it was, her lips parted as she watched Rin quietly.

"Isuzu-san?" Tohru asked, and Rin didn't think she was imagining that Tohru's voice had dropped a little; deepening, warming, filling out like the ocean's tide.

"Yes?"

"That feels nice."

Oh, did it, now? Excellent. Rin had no idea what she was supposed to be doing. Her own breasts weren't especially sensitive — a good thing, considering how many times she'd been groped on the train or in bars — and didn't usually play much of a factor in her sex life. Haru liked them, and was welcome to touch them for his own pleasure, but it hadn't brought much to the table for Rin.

Maybe Tohru was more sensitive.

Rin touched the flat of her palms to where she saw Tohru's nipples through the thin fabric of her bra, rotating. At the brush of fabric to skin, Tohru gasped, her head falling back. Rin traced gentle lips along her throat as she pet and stroaked Tohru's breasts, then slid her arms around the other girl in a hug — a hug! A true hug! Rin wasn't usually much for hugging people, for the obvious reasons as well as any lack of desire to do so — and simply held her, sighing into the skin of her neck.

Tohru hugged her back immediately, of course, holding her as firmly and surely as she had the day Rin had cried. Her arms were such a steady thing; a sure thing. The very world could end, and still Rin would never doubt the iron-strong love of Tohru Honda. All rush slowed as they simply held on and breathed, close, Tohru's fingertips following the ridges of Rin's worst scar like she was trying to understand what had happened; hoping to heal that, too.

Rin didn't need to be healed by Tohru. She couldn't handle that kind of unravelling; not right now. She gently pushed away until Tohru dropped her hands, and then made quick work of the clasps on Tohru's bra, letting it fall to the side.

Tohru was pink; across her cheeks and down her neck and even all the way to her upper chest, so intense was her blush, but she didn't cross her arms; didn't hide herself from Rin's hungry stare. Those little breasts of hers were warm; bottom-heavy; the nipples poking up like pale pink teardrops. The veins in Tohru's left breast were darker, somehow, making Rin think of lightening before a storm.

Rin took Tohru by the waist, pulled her close, and dragged a tongue across those pointed tips.

Tohru's gasp was a ragged, wet thing; as were her fingers instinctively seizing on Rin's shoulders. A jolt seemed to rock her from her core, and it made Rin smile in quiet satisfaction. What a responsive girl; how perfect. Puckering her lips into a kiss, she sucked sweetly on the first nipple, gently kneading the other breast with her right hand as she glanced up through her lashes at Tohru's reddening face.

Oh. Hunger was a good look on Tohru, too.

"Lay back," Rin said, brusque as ever, and when Tohru only watched her in dazed bewilderment, Rin helped lower her down to the bed before straddling her hips, her fingers on the belt of Tohru's skirt. She softened her tone, sincerity as clear as ever. "Do you want this?"

Tohru licked her lips and looked up at Rin. There was no fear in her eyes. "I don't want this to stop. I trust you, Isuzu-san."

Rin didn't know if anybody had ever 'trusted' her before. She was just the horse; not the first, not the last of the banquet. A necessary cog in the wheel, sure, but hers was a role that could have been played by anyone. Those that didn't look at her and see a horse instead looked at her and saw a slut; a bitch; a delinquent. Someone meant to be used and discarded like an old teabag.

But Tohru didn't just discard things, did she? She always saw the value in them, treating even old packaging strings with care, using them as ribbons for her hair. Rin pressed an entirely unnecessary kiss to the center of the girls chest, just to feel her heart under her lips, as she worked Tohru's skirt open.

A soft belly, faded blue panties with the elastic stretched so thin they could snap under a single pluck, and too-thin legs completed the picture. Tohru didn't shave, and something about knowing this fact that surely nobody else knew was a bolt of a thrill that Rin tucked away inside herself as she let her hands wander, stroking tummy and hips and down those legs, which she moved to frame her body.  
  
Tohru sat up on her elbows, still blushing, to watch what Rin was doing. Truth be told, Rin herself didn't know, either. Like with Haru, she was simply hungry, and shutting her brain off and letting her hands do the talking had never steared her wrong before. Sex was like a dance; like  _the_ dance; the banquet dance where partners learned where the other breathed and fell and fit into the gaps they made until their movements had a symmetry that seemed to follow a pulse outside their own.

Granted, she'd never been intimate with a woman before, but contrary to popular belief, she'd never been intimate with anyone before or after Haru, either. It wasn't his gender that had drawn her to him, but his kindness, his friendship. She'd learned how to please him by simply paying attention and applying basic logic. There was no reason she couldn't do the same with Tohru.

She slipped her thumbs between belly and panties, and again met Tohru's eye. This time, under all the blush, Isuzu sensed a hint of amusement to Tohru's gaze. She found it sweet that Rin kept checking on her, but she knew Rin well enough to know that to say so would only embarass her. Damn, damn, to be so known...!  
  
Rin slid her panties down, all the way down her legs and over her ankles, and hung them on the same bar as her shirt and bra and skirt, until she had a warm bundle of bare Tohru stretched before her; a blank canvas to cover in kisses and touches, until the girl was shivering and breathing hard, the muscles in her thighs shivering and her breaths coming in hard and fast.

Rin was surprised when Tohru pushed down on her head, though not so shocked as most may have been. People thought Tohru was an innocent, empty vessell; a doll to be tricked and manipulated and used. Funny, one way or another, girls always did boil down to something to be used, didn't they? Be they thorny like Rin or soft like Tohru, to the world, they were only a meal.

Rin knew better. She knew Tohru was a whole person; a person who'd survived school and a gangster mother and parental abandonment. She'd survived bullying and homelessness and love and loss. She was an adult, and there was a difference between being kind and being stupid; a difference bigger than an ocean, though most people only looked at it and saw a tiny puddle. Tohru had not sleepwalked through her life in ignorance. She knew what was happening, and had decided it was something she wanted.

Well, good, then! Let the girl want something! Let her ask for it, greedy, with pushing hands and a gasping mouth. Rin nipped below Tohru's belly button, feeling the wiry hairs there tickle her face, before lowering further and inhaling Tohru's musk, touching the outside of her slit with curious fingers.

She was wet and slick to the touch, coming away trailing and sticky, and Rin was seized with want.

She took Tohru's hips in her hands and pulled her to the edge of the bed, climbing off herself and kneeling on the floor between those spread legs. It was with great eagerness that she spread Tohru apart, admiring her for only a moment before getting to work; middle and ring finger pressing inside the soaked heat as the meat of her palm bumped a pulsing clit. With her left hand she gently pulled the hood away from Tohru's clit for greater sensitivity, then presesd down on her belly, holding her flat as she worked her off.

Tohru, for all her demure nature, quite forgot to be quiet. Of this, Rin felt a little smug.

Gasps and coos and stacatto grunts, pulled from what felt like Tohru's core, beyond her control. She didn't seem capable of speaking as she planted her heels flat on Rin's bed, thigh-muscles shivering, knees wavering as though unsure whether to block this pleasure onslaught or spread wide and allow it to continue forever. All the world smelled of Tohru, and it all sounded like her, too; the wet sounds of love-making on a late summer afternoon.

Tohru's gasps were beginning to take on the semblance of words; perhaps even begging. She half managed to sit up, trying to look at Rin, before having to fall back again, back arching from the bed.

Well. Go for it, right? Haru hadn't been great at this at first, but Rin had had plenty of practice, both with him and on herself. Adults always called girls who touched themselves "nasty" girls; "rude" girls, yet when boys did it, it was just "to be expected" of them. Obviously, they couldn't control themselves.

If they really couldn't control themselves, Rin had no idea why the world considered them the superior sex. Personally, she controlled when she touched herself just fine... And when she did it, she enjoyed it quite a lot. It seemed that Tohru was, too.

Maybe they were both rude girls, and maybe that suited Rin just fine.

When she lowered her head to sample a little taste, swiping her tongue through thickness that wasn't quite masculinne but wasn't what she'd expected, either, Tohru damn near screamed, remembering only last minute to clap both hands tight over her mouth. Her legs wrapped Rin's back, trapping her in place, and that made the decision for her. Holding Tohru's thighs open, Rin got to work, nuzzling in and, with two fingers still deep inside, nibbled and sucked the girl into a weeping glory.

A hand wrenched her hair with aggression that would have made Kyoko Honda circa Red Butterfly days salute in pride. Tohru could be strong, alright. Rin knew her head would ache for days, and she looked forward to it as she swiftly, messily, wetly brought the other girl off and guided her down from the peak, until those thighs relaxed, until the hand slipped out of her hair.

Until Tohru could only lie flat on the bed, arms and legs akimbo, and gaze, astonished, up at the ceiling as her chest hitched with breaths.

"Are you alright?" Rin asked quietly, climbing back onto the bed, wiping her mouth off on her sleeve. She tried to look nonchalant. Tried not to look as though Tohru had just rocked her world, and not for the first time.

"I..." Tohru seemed lost for words.

Oh, hell's bells. Rin reached for the scratchy wool blanket Kazuma had placed on the foot of Rin's bed and unfolded it with a snap of her wrists, settling it over Tohru and balling her up; a little dumpling of a girl that she then pulled into her lap, holding her the way Haru had once held Rin. He'd taught her kindness, Haru had, as nobody else had ever bothered.  
  
Rin rocked Tohru and then gently lay the both of them down, still holding tight. Hugs didn't come naturally to her, but she knew from her own experience how lonesome it was to come down from an orgasm alone.

"I'm here," she told Tohru, back to sounding rough as though words alone could protect her heart. "I've got you. I'm not going anywhere."

Tohru closed her eyes and nodded, her fingers again tightening into the folds on Rin's shirt, returning the embrace.

After five minutes or five years, long after Tohru's panting and shivering and shuddering had ceased, the two lay together in a salt-scented pit of draining energy.

"Isuzu-san?" Tohru asked, snapping the other girl awake as she'd nearly descended into a nap, the hollow throb between her own legs becoming almost bearable after ignoring it for so long.

"Hm?" Rin asked, opening one eye.

"I love you. You don't have to say it back. I know you feel the same way."

Rin couldn't say it back, but she could squeeze Tohru harder for another moment. She could tilt her head to kiss her shoulder.

As she drifted off at last, Rin couldn't help but to smile.


End file.
